Smart Water

A standalone desalinator needs 17 gallons of diesel fuel and 66.5 kilowatts of
electricity to make 1,000 gallons of freshwater, but now, the Solar Cube, (made
by Spectra Watermakers in California), churns out 1,500 gallons of drinking water
on just 22 kilowatts of its own solar and wind power. The innovation is a pump
that triples efficiency by recapturing hydraulic pressure during the filtering
process. Solar Cubes are now bringing freshwater to remote regions and places
short on infrastructure and electricity without paying the CO2 price – way cool. (more…)

Here is the article on how monstrous the Greensburg tornado really was.

Greensburg study finds that storm contained 22 tornadoes

By STAN FINGER
The Wichita Eagle

The first in-depth study of the Greensburg, Kan., tornado has uncovered new
details about one of the strongest and most dramatic tornado outbreaks ever
recorded.

“There are a lot of things in that storm that made me go, ‘Wow,’” said Les Lemon,
a co-author of the study and research associate meteorologist with the Cooperative
Institute in Mesoscale Meteorological Studies at the University of Oklahoma. (more…)

Looks like T. Boone and Walmart are in the lets make a deal phase.  Walmart
has announced it would buy 15 percent of the electricity for its Texas
facilities from Duke Energy wind farm.  That 15 percent equates to 226
million kilowatt hours or 18,000 homes could be powered for a year.

Walmart is buying the power and accompanying renewable energy credits
beginning in April from a Duke Energy wind farm in Notrees, Texas. The power
will supply WalMart’s 360 facilities within the competitive Texas grid. (more…)

A new study by scientists has determined that a type of rock found at or near
the surface in the Oman and other areas around the world could be harnessed to
soak up huge quantities of globe-warming carbon dioxide (CO2).

Geologist Peter Kelemen and geochemist Juerg Matter, both from Columbia University’s
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, made the discovery during field work in the Omani
desert, where they have worked for years.

Their studies show that the rock, known as peridotite, reacts naturally at (more…)

Afsaneh Rabiei, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at
North Carolina State University, has invented a space-age material so light and
strong that it could revolutionize everything from vehicle bumpers to armor to
biomedical devices.  A brand new material that can save energy and lives.

“Basically, it is a new material for all sorts of safety devices,” said Rabiei
Her invention isn’t the first metal foam, but she says it’s the strongest. The main weakness of
existing metal foams is the varying sizes of their cells – tiny pockets (more…)

It’s become almost a reflex to bash aviation’s role in climate change. Passenger
planes are big, they emit stuff into the atmosphere, so they must be bad. It’s
true, but it’s not quite that simple.

Last week, climate and atmospheric scientists from the US and Europe presented
research to a group of aviation types gathered at the Royal Society of London.
Much of their focus was on nitrogen oxide (NOx), and what they found is that
simply dismissing NOx as just another nasty greenhouse gas is not only bad
science, but could also be unwise policy. (more…)

As you may have heard, Michael Moore decided to make his new film,
“Slacker Uprising,” available for free to everyone in the United States and
Canada. It is the first time ever that a major feature-length film is debuting
as a free download on the internet — legally. He is doing this for two reasons:

-      1. Next year it will be 20 years since his first film, “Roger & Me,”
-         so he’d like to give those of you who’ve supported his work over
-         the years a thank you gift in the form of a brand new movie; and (more…)